Cameron would withdraw funding from Muslim bodies linked to extremists

By BENEDICT BROGAN, Political Editor

Last updated at 22:00 30 January 2007

Muslim groups that refuse to promote integration should lose their Government funding, David Cameron's security policy review has recommended.

Organisations such as the Muslim Council of Britain, which have been championed by Tony Blair, should be cut off from Government support because they are too extreme.

The Tory leader said ministers should pay less attention to 'loud' Muslim groups which often do not represent the views of their communities.

A report on national cohesion produced by the National and International Security policy commission set up by Mr Cameron criticised groups that promote separation.

It urged a future Tory government to withdraw its support from organisations or individuals 'promoting or preaching' extreme ideology, and which condemn 'participation by Muslims in the institutions of a democratic state'.

Speaking at the launch the Tory leader said many such groups pursued an agenda of 'separation rather than integration', and the Government could not afford to 'defer' to their views.

Mr Cameron echoed George Bush's pledge to 'drain the swamp of global terrorism' by calling for the 'sea' of support in which terrorists swam in the UK to be drained.

He called for barriers separating communities to be brought down, and for measures to allow Muslims to play a full part in British civic and economic life.

The report followed Mr Cameron's landmark speech in Birmingham on Monday in which he launched a stinging attack on the damage done to society by uncontrolled immigration and multiculturalism.

Mr Cameron compared Muslims calling for the imposition of Sharia law to the far-right BNP, and condemned both groups for trying to divide people into 'us' and 'them'.

He has called for action to tackle elements who were trying to create friction, including radical preachers from abroad and extremist groups.

"Policy makers should stop assuming that the loudest voices and the most organised elements within the Muslim community necessarily represent the Muslim population as a whole," he said.

"There's a danger that groups with agendas aimed at separation rather than integration are deferred to when they should be challenged."

He welcomed the think-tank's report, which is highly critical of multiculturalism for tending to 'foster difference for its own sake'.

It also hits out at many Muslim organisations for being too 'ideological', and calls for an incoming Conservative government to target the wider Muslim population to bring them into mainstream British society on an 'equal basis'.

She said: "Towards what is it that we are going to try to pull people who might otherwise be attracted to extreme ideologies? We do not have a good answer.

"I think we are all aware that our Britishness has worn rather thin, assaulted as it has been by many centrifugal forces in society including mobility, immigration and devolution."

Dame Pauline singled out the Muslim Council of Britain as culpable for 'failing to give a lead towards integration', and urged them to 'get on with it'.

She said: "Muslims in this country, many of whom feel conflicted at the moment by the pressures on them, should be able to emerge fully and successfully as equal citizens in their own right, who do not need mediators between themselves and the government they elect to serve them."

Mr Cameron said large numbers of Muslims were being held back by a lack of good schools in their areas.

"Improving the qualities of schools in Britain's cities would do more for Muslims and more to help integration than any other step that government can take," he said.